Alexander Tang, left, and Dean Holmes were convicted for posting explicit material on OnlyFans. Composite: Northumbria Police and View image in fullscreen Alexander Tang, left, and Dean Holmes were convicted for posting explicit material on OnlyFans. Composite: Northumbria Police and Violence against women and girls Abusers coercing or duping women to post explicit OnlyFans content, UK court cases reveal Separate criminal convictions come as domestic violence charities warn of tech-facilitated abuse and coercion
Prefer the Guardian on Google Two men have been convicted this week in separate criminal cases that revealed they had posted explicit content on OnlyFans without the full consent of the women whose images were uploaded.
In the first case, Alexander Tang, 37, took and uploaded 47 intimate images and four videos of a woman to OnlyFans without her consent, and was paid money for the material he posted to the website.
In the second case, a court heard how Dean Holmes, 43, had coerced a woman to open an OnlyFans account to make money. He pleaded guilty to assault and controlling and coercive behaviour at the start of the trial on Monday, but denied charges of rape. He was found guilty of rape on Thursday at the end of a four-day trial.
The cases follow warnings from several domestic violence charities that some women have been compelled to create content to upload to the site.
In its 2026 annual report, Women’s Aid said the most common new form of tech-facilitated abuse its frontline teams were assisting with involved “young women being coerced to set up an OnlyFans account to generate income for their abusive partners”. The Revenge Porn Helpline also said it had handled reports from women who had been coerced into creating content for OnlyFans and similar platforms.
View image in fullscreen The website OnlyFans allows users to upload images and videos and monetise the content. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters During Holmes’s rape trial, Bolton crown court heard that he had isolated his victim from her family and friends and coerced her to open an OnlyFans account. Mark Kellet, prosecuting, said: “She said he put pressure on her to start making money on OnlyFans, a website where people pay for intimate content. She said that he pushed her into that. She would upload pictures of herself and the defendant would use the account to engage in text conversations with the men.”
The court heard that Holmes had set the account up in her name and operated it from his phone. She had initially posted pictures of herself in a bikini, but he told her she needed to upload much more explicit content.
She later told him that she felt ashamed after these images had been circulated on the site. She messaged him to say: “I can’t show my face after putting myself out there showing everything … I can’t go back to work cos people will know and people seen me advertising myself.” Holmes is due to be sentenced on 25 September.
Tang pleaded guilty to one count of voyeurism and was given a 26-week suspended prison sentence on Wednesday. His victim discovered what had happened after being contacted by several men who thought they had been speaking to her on social media and dating apps; she had no idea she was on these sites. She later discovered the profiles had images of her, some naked, taken without her permission or knowledge.
When she realised that the pictures had also been posted on OnlyFans, she contacted Northumbria police. Their investigat…